Question about muscle milk and creatine

[Oomdayir]

First Question: Does muscle milk really do all that it says it does? Should I be using this or just some normal whey and why?

Second question: Whats the best type/brand of creatine to get?

[beefcake]

Muscle milk has a high fat content. Muscle milk doesn't have anything that's really special anyway. You'd be better off just getting a good whey protein and adding in whatever you want. Not to mention it also contains glycocyamine, which has been shown to be detrimental to health. As long as you're not a creatine non-responder, you should good with any creatine monohydrate. Check out powernutrition.net for your supplement needs.

[Oomdayir]

Thanks for the response. I've heard you're supposed to mix salt with your creatine to make it absorb better or something like that? Do they have creatine out that already has salt or whatever mixed in with it?

[beefcake]

Originally posted by Oomdayir
Thanks for the response. I've heard you're supposed to mix salt with your creatine to make it absorb better or something like that? Do they have creatine out that already has salt or whatever mixed in with it?

I've never heard of this. Creatine is unstable in a liquid anyway, so I don't think the salt will do much for you. There is stuff called creatine malate (ie v12, swole v2, satur8), which is a salt form of creatine, however, it is only made up of 75% creatine. It's mostly for non responders and also to help keep GI distress down. Better for you to take creatine with a sugar like dextrose to help delivery by raising insulin levels, which is the main factor in creatine uptake.

[bigpetefox]

Where's the info on glycocyamine being bad for you? I think you meant glucoronolactone.. ;)

Muscle Milk has MCT's for fats, not hardly that bad for you.. I use MM, and never had any problems with anything.. Some like it, others don't, it's all up to what you wanna go with..

[beefcake]

Originally posted by bigpetefox
Where's the info on glycocyamine being bad for you? I think you meant glucoronolactone.. ;)

http://www.bulknutrition.com/?ingredients_id=39

"In addition, GAA carries an added risk when compared to creatine. The conversion of GAA to creatine via GAMT requires the presence of S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe), which is the methyl donor in virtually all known biological methylation reactions. The amount of SAMe normally used for endogenous creatine biosynthesis is greater than the amount used for all other methylation reactions combined. When this reaction takes place, homocysteine is produced as one of the end products. Increased blood concentrations of homocysteine have been associated with an increased risk for developing vascular disease. Rats on a GAA supplemented diet have blood homocysteine concentrations 49% higher than control levels. On the other hand, creatine supplementation was associated with a 27% decrease in homocysteine. This is because creatine supplementation downregulates GAA biosynthesis, thus decreasing methylation demand. Although there may be ways of reducing this negative effect (such as inclusion of betaine), it seems much more practical to just supplement with creatine. [3]

If glycocyamine does get past the liver intact, the effects will probably not be desirable. The fact that it competitively inhibits creatine transport is not the only reason. Glycocyamine is also transported across the blood brain barrier (BBB). This may be associated with a variety of negative effects, and the most well-known property of GAA in the brain is as a convulsant [1, 5-7]. GAA increases the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the brain [1]. Other mechanisms of neurotoxicity include inhibition of Na+,K+-ATPase, decreased membrane fluidity, and interaction with the GABA-A receptor [8-9]. It is unknown whether these effects are relevant at doses used for supplementation, but it seems unlikely. They primarily become a problem in GAMT deficiency, which results in both elevated brain GAA and creatine deficiency. Still, those with a history of epilepsy should definitely stay away from glycocyamine."

[bigpetefox]

It is unknown whether these effects are relevant at doses used for supplementation, but it seems unlikely.

This statment alone says no need for alarm.. As long as there is a methyl donor, and you don't go extreme with dosing, it's just as safe as methyl-n-methylguanylglycine.. :D

Besides, no product has in access of 1g, tests like these use very high amounts of a compound to draw these conclusions..

[beefcake]

Originally posted by bigpetefox
This statment alone says no need for alarm.. As long as there is a methyl donor, and you don't go extreme with dosing, it's just as safe as methyl-n-methylguanylglycine.. :D

Besides, no product has in access of 1g, tests like these use very high amounts of a compound to draw these conclusions..

Good thing you pointed that out. Kind of puts my mind at ease. Shpongled is always preaching about this stuff. I'll have to ask him if there's any other reasons why. Maybe spidey or yj will know for sure if this stuff is good to go.

[Pumpdogg]

Dang BeefCake you got mad skills bruh,.... impressive, thanx for the info!!

PD